Thrice, I Greet Thee

#A Dance of Skirts, Ruffles and Lace

Da-da-da... I am back, with a blinding whirl of activities done and dusted, and a fresh batch to meet! My, how I missed you all so. I missed writing on this blog too, but I have to say that the guest-posts shared by Leah, Bree, Schuyler and Annie more than adequately tossed aside all notions of nostalgia over being away - each post was so encouraging and inspiring! Thank you all so much ^_^.

First of all, I must tell you how NaNo went. W-e-l-l, I wrote thirteen thousand and thirty words precisely. Considering the fun family music concert my sisters and I participated in during November--we did a plethora of practice night and day in preparation for it--, and choosing on the last day of NaNo to learn to knit a scarf as a Christmas gift for Dad instead of write, I actually did not do badly I think. I had planned on reaching the 20,000 mark, but I am still pretty happy with how things have fitted in. It was so good to just sit down every day and write. Sometimes I worried over writing enough words, sometimes I freaked out over how horribly the scenes were coming along (why are stories ever so much more inspiring in one's mind than in written words?), and at other times gloried simply over seeing the story and characters display themselves and reveal their colours with vibrant flashes of orange and deep blue and soft lavenders (mostly in seeing what works and what doesn't). The story of A Love that Never Fails is only just beginning - I have such a long way to write yet, and even what I did write needs major edits. But considering school and busyness of family, that's perfectly okay. I see now how the story will play out, the characters are peeping their shy darling faces and I am just as eager to continue writing now as during November. That is a good thing, isn't it? And since the Christmas/Summer holidays are fast approaching, I have that to look forward to!

On that note, Christmas is fast approaching. Now that is exciting. I love this season so, so much! Who doesn't? I always look forward to this time to especially celebrate the Advent of Christ's birth, of His coming to save us from our sins... it is a beautiful time. And I pray that this special season will be a really blessed one for all of us. May our eyes be fixed on Jesus, our Saviour and Lord! May He fill us with His joy and peace even through trials and difficulties during this joyous season and always.

#photo source

So far, I have so many plans and projects for this month I don't know how I'll be able to fit them all in! But, it is exciting anyhow and I am enjoying every bit of it. So, I thought perhaps I will share some of the little tid-bits of things I am looking forward to/doing Lord willing these days :)

Worship

I want to spend more time reading God's Word, dwelling in His Presence, pausing to listen to His voice and simply to sit at Jesus' feet, to pray and worship. I haven't done enough of that in the last months, and I miss that special close communion with Him so!

Read

Hopefully, I would like to finish a few books before the end of the year - (I am nearly done in With Christ in the School of Prayer, I sobbed through Sutcliff's Shining Company, and Goddess Tithe by Anne Elisabeth Stengl; so now I hope to try and read A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens in time for Christmas, perhaps squeeze time to read Tales from the Perilous Realm by Tolkien, reread bits of The Hobbit, and the rest of Rosemary Sutcliff's Dolphin Ring Cycle novels like The Shield Ring and The Shining Company.)

Music-Stuff

The family music concert last week went splendidly - it was such fun! I played with Mary and my violin teacher a violin trio Medley of The Lord of the Rings (SUCH FUN!), then my sisters and I performed a Sound of Music medley, and with Mary playing the piano accompaniment I played songs from Les Miserables on the violin. Last of all, my sisters and I sang a Christmas song, Thorns in the Straw together - a family favourite by Graham Kendrick... and at the end Mary and I with the other performs played an ensemble of the Cannon in D Major. It was an exhausting but fun day to be sure! Now, I am back to playing dreary scales and arpeggios :), with a few Carols thrown in for good measure...

Knit and Quilt ('cause they rythme)

I am hoping to create some craft-y homemade Christmas gifts this year - like with knitting and cross-stitch. I just hope I have enough time, with still two weeks of schoolwork left.

Fun and Hobbits 

  A day before Christmas will be my 18th birthday and a day after Christmas here in Australia, The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug movie will be coming out. *squeals* I CAN HARDLY WAIT!!!!! 

Scribbles and Ink

With God's help, I plan to keep writing on A Love that Never Fails during the holidays, and also maybe on a few other projects, do some letter and long emailing writing to my sweet friends and also blog regularly, hopefully. Writing will be a big part of Christmas 2013, I think ^_^. And yes, I will try to finish those questions I received on my blog-party earlier this year, do more reviews and share more writing-tid-bits with you all on A Love that Never Fails and its progress (aka. snippets, beautiful people...)

Schoolin'

With the number 7 (completion), I have still a bit of school-work to finish up. Algebra for one thing. Ho hum! Maybe biology too. I am enjoying my Successful Living Course though which is an elective study on the book of Proverbs. It's looking to be very encouraging and challenging!

 What are you looking forward to this Christmas season?

Right now, it is 10:21pm, I am listening to the Desolation of Smaug soundtrack (EPIC HEART-BREAKING BEAUTY!) and I really ought to be heading off to bed; but first, I have to share about a Christmas Read-along Anne Elisabeth Stengl (author of the Tales of Goldstone Wood) series is hosting on her blog. It is a lot of fun where Stengl shares articles about her books and 'behind the scenes', plus there are giveaways too! So, why don't you check out her blog and join in? This time she is sharing about her second novel, Veiled Rose which I really want to read one of these days. Check out her event here!

'...and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.' -Matthew 1:21